


Schematica Search

by Valkyrja_Cain



Series: Tenno Timelines; Zelu [2]
Category: Warframe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:08:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29286558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valkyrja_Cain/pseuds/Valkyrja_Cain
Summary: Talthen trades running a mission for information. A mission he doesn't enjoy, and information that brings more questions and pain than expected.Zelu is terrible at making friends, Alli just wants her Star Child to know more people, and maybe stop wallowing in guilt, misery, and the past.
Series: Tenno Timelines; Zelu [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1924336





	Schematica Search

The message was delivered via signal piggybacking as was a customary precaution. Cephalon Bhett, of course, put her own little twist on the message in the form of an encryption. They tended to do that whenever Talthen seemed the least bit worried about the contents of a message. And worried he was, as he hit the final button to send a message to the Operator and Warframe he had barely met at the Larunda Relay. He sighed. There wasn't much he could do now except wait for a response to his message.

Operator Zeeluh and Trinity Allison,

_ I am Operator Talthen. We met a couple weeks ago at the Larunda Relay while I was meeting with Operator Sin'drion and Nekros Dakkai. I reach out to you today with a request for a similar conversation to the one I had with them. I am interested in learning more about the 'special' Warframes and how they have come to be this way. I would like to meet in person if that is possible. Should you agree, simply name a time and a place. I will accommodate accordingly. Thank you for your time. _

-Operator Talthen.

Zelu was lounging in a pile of floofs, half asleep when Thætyn's quiet endless binary stream came to a screechy crescendo. Now, usually she simply tuned that out, but it came attached with the 'Important' tag in front. That bit was always slightly louder than the continual diagnostics the Cephalon read aloud as ambient noise. Allison, an Orokin era Trinity in whites and golds, lay faceplate down in the pile alongside her and doesn't seem to notice or care at all about what's going on. Zelu tilts her head enough to catch the message and then snorts. Of course. Sin'drion had told her this would probably happen. She raises a hand, and the binary cuts off in wait. "Thætyn, record." The wings of Alli's mechanical syandana flap and stretch lazily, and Zelu's hair shifts in the tiny breeze.

There's a soft bzzz of acknowledgement. She rattles off the message, and then settles back into the pile with a content sound. Her mission wasn't scheduled for another two standard days anyways, so if it was important to him, he'd make the time as far as she was concerned.

T-

_ jupiter, target ship and coords attached, 42 hours from timestamp. local time 0130. you want to see my intimates youre paying with muscle and distraction big guy. bring something loud. ive got a whole mess of crap to steal and youre gonna be my noisemaker. _

-Z

The target is a large Corpus freighter, and the notes the Cephalon includes detail both an entrance location, the general route, and an exit point. It seems to be a simple 'spy' mission, with their entry dropping them into an isolated storage area through a ceiling vent- hopefully into an empty room.

Talthen could tell the message came in because something had Cephalon Bhett giggling like a hatter. He scrambled to the nearest datapad to read whatever had them in such a good mood. As he did, his shoulders slumped and he let the datapad drop on the counter in his sleeping quarters. Of course. No! No. It's fine. This is his job after all. And she has information he wants.  _ This would be a fair trade.... _ He hoped. He sent back a short confirmation of plans.

The room was empty.... Or at least it was now. The Rhino sheathed the heat sword at its hip, the last Corpus crewman to experience the blade still sizzled in the corner. Talthen had made it a point to arrive five minutes early to prepare and double check with his would be partner the plans of this mission. Instead of Zeeluh, however, he had come face to face with two crewmen attempting to avoid the ire of their foreman. Luckily they don't have to worry about getting caught slacking off ever again.

But speaking of slacking off…

The bone white Trinity floats gracefully down from the open vent. Her syandana unfolds, likely having been unable to fit in the vent when opened, and she rests on the very tip of a gold pronged foot. Swirls and etching in off white and gold adorn the whole frame, clearly carved to cover battle scars and wounds. The frame glances around the room, noting the corpse with a pleased giggle.

Zelu steps out of the frame with a yawn. She's short, and seems even shorter in comparison to the Rhino. Blindfolded eyes look him up and down in appraisal. She's unarmored, actually dressed in old Orokin loungewear. Her hair is braided and out of her face at least, overly intricate and laced with golden ribbons and shiny trinkets. Alli hands her the Reaper attached the the frame's hip, and both of them treat him with a wave that more just a cheeky finger wiggle

"Sorry I'm late. I was polishing my..." She settles the weapon over her shoulder, "Scythe." The Trinity is carrying a plasma rifle and a twin set of pistols, all white and gold. "Defense specialty, right? Great. Consider me your target. Last time I did this shit I went home with sixteen bullet holes. I prefer keeping it under the double digits, yeah?" A Trinity was great at healing, sure. But only healing other frames. She couldn't do anything about an injured operator. The void heals damn near anything, but still. It made hacking consoles a pain in the ass, since blood tended to make the keys fritz out.

Talthen watched the angelic descent with impassive expression, arms crossed. This was the first real look he had gotten of both Operator and Frame. Alli is pleasing to the eye with the white and gold aesthetic. The etching was especially beautiful. He would have to ask how it was done later, after the stealth mission she was horribly camouflaged for. That he could handwave, but the Operator, however, was another story. No armor. No equipment to speak of save for the scythe. And she wanted protection?

"You can make it zero if you stay in your frame." His tone was an attempted neutrality that hardly masked his mounting exasperation.

Zelu snorts. "Yeah, and she can clearly get through lasers." She makes a motion like she rolled her eyes before continuing. "You want my info, I want you to guard my pert ass while I hack consoles-" A pause, and then she laughs. "Or did you think I'd get hit in combat? You really do have so much to learn about us, Tally," She says almost cheerfully.

Alli giggles again, but it's not cruel, at the exchange. She pulls out her plasma rifle, clearly a refurbished Corpus make, and floats after her operator. "Do try to keep up?"

And then they're off, Tenno and frame opening the door and sprinting off towards the first vault. Zelu wields her Reaper like, well, a reaper. After cleaving through only three Corpus she's splattered in blood and coolant, and doesn't seem at all bothered by it. It's not a long trip to the first vault, and she focuses mostly on actual Corpus over MOAs for maximum assistance. Eventually, they find the particular door, leading into a smaller hallway with a console, and she embeds the rubedo bladed head of the weapon in the floor after they deal with the security camera.

"Tally?" The questioning echo is lost as they race off. Talthen takes a moment, their sudden departure being recognized, before he is springing after them, heat sword drawn. Long, arching strikes cut down whatever Zelu left behind. The bipedal metal shells and dual thruster drones melt as he cuts into them. They can't give off a distress signal if they cease functioning after all.

The Rhino enters behind them, stashing its blade and drawing the Boltor from its back. Talthen scans the direction from which they came. He looks quickly to Zelu before returning his eyes, and aim, to the door. "I have to admit I am not great at this sort of mission. What's next?"

"Next, we deal with this console, and you keep us from getting shot," Zelu explains. Alli steps forward, parazon ready and with a datapad in her other hand. "Normally, the Lotus just wants a scrap of information, we don't do a full pull. This is a personal mission," She says, as if that explains anything. Granted, to her it probably is all the explanation needed.

The two seem rather focused, and the Corpus don't want to let the opportunity to throw proxies at the Tenno to go to waste. A small MOA squad comes trotting down the hall they all came from.

The march of metal feet draws his attention away from the two at the console. "Engaging." The word was the only warning to his next actions. A loud roar deafens the room, emboldening those who relied upon its source. He shifted himself, pulling his weight down and forward, his legs catching before he fell and started pumping. His charge took him through the squad to the end of the hallway. He grabbed the nearest MOA that he had knocked off balance. He pressed the muzzle of his rifle to the joint where the legs met the body and pulled the trigger, dropping the scrap afterwards. Three shots in every walkers. A toss or throw when they got too close. One MOA did attempt to continue down the hallway towards the hackers, but a well placed parazon yanked it back to the intersection only to be crushed under the Rhino's foot.

"How's it looking?" He called out to Zelu.

Zelu hmms, dragging her hands over the console. She seems completely unconcerned with the sounds of scuffle and gunfire- she either trusts him, or considers a few gunshots worth her prize. Or both.

They seem to find what they're looking for. Trinity withdraws the parazon, but leaves it open, and sticks the inner section now to the datapad. A few moments and it beeps triumphantly. "Codes acquired at least, so it should be a bit easier. That'll cut my time down for the actual data pull."

And then the next door opens, showing off a massive grid of lasers that slide around and blink on or off intermittently. Alli drags the Reaper out of the floor and holsters it after her parazon snaps shut. Zelu blasts the absolute shit out of the next camera with a void beam. The laser grid defense blinks out, and she rushes through it before it flickers back on. "Just try not to trip the beams, kay Tally?" She says offhandedly, before aiming for the next camera. Alli would wait for him, grabbing his arm and tugging when the timing was right.

"You know, I can just wait out here for you to fini... Aah!" Talthen's offer was cut off as Alli yanked him off into the grids. The first landing was rough. His thick exoskeleton barely dodged the first grid as it blinked back into place. The rest of the dash through the security system did not go much better.

He was unsteady. If this frame had a stomach it would be in knots. His weight was improperly placed, every jump sending him teetering. Eventually, after much frustration on both Talthen's and Alli's parts, they catch up to Zelu on the platform before the innermost chamber of this security system.

"Please tell me you only need this one console. I'm not sure I can do that again." His voice was even. There was no sound of exertion on his part. If anything, there was a touch of aggravation.

"You sound like a bad date, Tally." Zelu says, and if there was any more sarcasm it would be physically dripping off her tongue. Alli gives him a comforting pat on the arm, and then stretches over to offer her parazon to her operator.

Opening the door to the console proper is easy, but once inside Zelu falters. "Look. You want information. You want personal information. So shut up and suffer through some mild discomfort to get me what I need, so you can go on your merry way." She stalks over to the console, and starts inputting commands with ease. "If you don't like my terms you can leave. Sin'drion has all the happy go lucky stories you could ever want, but her and Dakkai barely remember anything from when they woke up, let alone the Old War or their connection. Kayden barely remembers anything, and what he does remember wouldn't matter to you because he lost his only prime before he woke up. None of us have seen our Ivara's Operator, we don't even know their name."

Another handful of commands, some rapid typing, and Alli connects the datapad directly this time. Zelu's anger at his complaint seems like it's not directly directed at him anymore. "I'm your best fucking lead right now. And some of us have moved past that first world shattering revelation and onto the next. I'll fucking survive without your help, so if you want mine, buckle up and deal." She punctuates the sentence by slamming her hand down on a button. Alli puts a hand on her shoulder, and she quickly shrugs it off. "Isn't this what you wanted, anyways? Huzzah, Operator and frame, working together completely independent of each other!" She spits a curse in old Orokin, and unplugs the cable. A secondary door opens, and the laser grid shuts off. "Two more. Or extraction is the same way you came in."

He will never know what riled him. Maybe it was the anger that bloomed from an innocent statement of discomfort. Maybe it was the condescending tone. Maybe it was because of his already mounting displeasure of infiltration missions. His shoulders rise as they tense, fists clenching. He trudges to the door first, before either Alli or Zelu could reach it. He crosses his arms and stares at the blind Tenno.

"Now you look here. Your message said you needed a noisemaker, a distraction. I can do that. When you arrived- Late, might I add- you changed that to a body guard detail. I can do that. What I can't do is go galavanting through laser grids. So maybe if you had taken the time to talk before you ran out of our entry point, we could have come up with a plan that didn't amount to me being dragged blindly behind. You need to communicate. I didn't even know how many data sets you needed. I know nothing about this mission, and I can't plan accordingly. You have put me in a very uncomfortable position, that I do not appreciate."

He huffed out a sigh. The resonance of Rhino's throat made it seem like a growl. There was an edge to his voice that had built as he spoke before, but now it softened. A harsh vitriol that was ground down by acceptance, still aggressive without anger. "I'll finish the mission. I already accepted it. I'm already here. I'll buckle up and deal. So let's see if we can't keep your bullet wounds below the double digits. Huh?"

He turned and walked out of the doorway, leveling his rifle to a high ready position.

"Yeah. And the distraction keeps me from getting shot. Ass," She snaps. "And-"

Alli smacks her on the back of the head, before following him out. "Operator Talthen? A moment, if you will," She says. Her voice is high and clear. If she wasn't a warframe, she might have made a decent singer. "I'd like to offer my apologies. It was my idea to drag you through with us, after all." She splays her hands out in front of her as she floats along beside him. "We usually do these missions entirely solo, and-" She brings her hands together, and makes a staticy noise. "I take pride in my Operator's skills. And perhaps I wanted to show her off," She says quietly, sheepishly. "While you have every right to be upset, not all that blame deserves to be given to her. I am at fault as well."

Zelu is following behind them, but far enough back she likely can't hear them. "Now," Alli continues, "She... also has a bit of a problem with... Well. You'll learn about that after this, I assume. I do, ah," The frame ducks behind the Rhino to pull out her weapon. Rounding the corner was another squad of MOA- and a rather large detachment of crewmen.

He had paused just long enough to allow Alli to catch up. He figures it would be best to listen to what the Trinity had to say... and he has no idea where he’s going, so her guidance would be welcome. He was silent, waiting for her to finish before he responded. Only, that never came. Instead it was the enemies. He looks back over his shoulder at Zelu and Alli as he lowers his center of mass, increasing the area he blocked to his sides. He’ss calculating a strategy, multiple actually, but he needed confirmation.

"Defend or draw fire?"

Alli would frown if she could, but she can only look to her operator, who closed the distance upon seeing the trouble ahead. Alli throws her the Reaper, and they both nod. "Both? Drawing fire is defending, just. Fuck-"

Zelu drops to a crouch, and then reality shifts as she sinks into the void. It tears when she dashes past the squad, landing further down the next hallway. Alli shoots, and the massive plasma round heaves a crewman to the floor. "We're bigger targets," And energy coalesces around them as one of the MOAs is lifted into the air. Its battery is draining at an alarming rate, siphoned into the two frames in heavy pulses. "Let's cause some chaos," She yells, with a maniacal giggle.

If the Rhino's face could frown, it would be doing so right now. The Boltor rings rhythmically, over which Talthen offers a question to Alli. "Does she always just run off on her own?"

He steps forward, every stride deliberately drawing him closer to the detachment. His prime targets are the MOAs, but any crewman that even looks like they are about to turn around gains highest priority. And with priority comes a hail of bolts.

Another step. And another. And another. Closer and closer to the enemy, looming towards them as if held over them by the unstoppable hand of fate. Shots slam into his advancing flesh. Scorch marks from incendiary rounds and laser pulses blossom on the near black plates of the Rhino. He seems not to care as stony skin absorbs blow after blow. He keeps walking forward. Just as he comes face to face with the squad, he rears his head back and bellows a resonant roar in their faces.

Alli is laughing as she unloads another massive plasma orb at another Corpus. "Always. Usually I have your current job, dear. Today, I get to do my preferred job- support."

Right before he roars, she leans forward cartwheeling her hand into the ground and then launching herself back upright. Trinity's blessing washes over them both, repairing scorches and coating them in a pulsing gold aura that works almost as well as iron skin. Almost. It fades rather quickly.

The previously floating MOA drops, dead. She unloads another blast at a crewman, now also bathed in that energy sapping glow, still giggling.

As he is now far too close for it to be effective, he stashed the Boltor on his back. The heat sword hums to life in his hand as it arcs off of his hip. The hum of his weapon is the only sound he allows for himself or his equipment to elicit. Wide swathes of the hallway are bathes in swaying orange light. A MOA loses a leg and shudders to a halt on the floor. A crewman screams as his side is cleaved open, charred organs slightly visible. Between the steady, calculated violence the Talthen worked and the near acrobatic anarchy that Alli wielded, it was not much longer before the present force fell.

MOA carapace crunches underfoot, the last of the robotic sentries to fall, as Talthen takes a moment to look around and take stock of the situation. "Wait. Where did Zelu go?"

She keeps his energy up by draining it violently from their enemies, and with each corpse that falls, her giggling laughter gets louder or more excited. As the last crewman falls, she steps forward. The golden prongs on her feet are shiny and pointed, and she buries it into his chest, prying free the heart with uncareful but practiced movements. Alli howls in joy as an upward flick of her foot causes it to arc upward. It lands in her ready hand, which crushes it with an awful splurt. The frame seems transfixed as the blood runs down her white and gold carapace in stark colored contrast.

The Trinity seems to zone back in at the question. "Eh? Towards the next terminal? Where else would she go?" Alli seems as much confused by his question as he was about the missing operator. She stills, and then her demeanor shifts. "I'm fine. Keep up the chaos, halfway through this vault." And then Alli goes back to floating delicate circles around him.

He reloads his rifle and gives another sweep of the area to see if there were any survivors. There were none. For a Trinity, Alli had a similar warpath to a Garuda or Valkyr, violently messy. But as he looks upon scarlet painted alabaster and gold, he witnesses the shift. The words were hers but not hers. He had seen this before.

"So she can speak to you, and through you, even from a distance? I've seen that with Sin'drion and Dakkai, but it was only at close physical proximity."

Alli giggles at his question. "Mhm!" She floats another dainty circle around him. "Yeah, you could say we're.... closer." She puts a finger up to her faceplate, making a staticy shhh. It leaves a bloody fingerprint. There's distant alarms, and the sound of more mobilizing foes.

Alli giggles again, before unloading a shot at a nearby security checkpoint terminal. It explodes rather brilliantly. More alarms sound, closer this time, and she settles onto the ground with another delighted spin. "But- I don't know how much you want to hear about that." She bounds down the hallway Zelu went, towards the alarms, and waves for him to follow. "Your pick, dear."

Heavy footfalls rush to catch up. He slows his pace to keep abreast the giggling Trinity. "I would like to know as much as I can about the bond you two share. Of course, I only ask that you share what you are comfortable with. I know some people may not wish to discuss their past."

Four MOAs greet them as they round a corner, hardlight shells firing immediately in the direction of the two frames. Talthen lowers his shoulders and barrels through them. The walkers fall to the wayside, clumsily trying to right themselves.

"Oh, I don't mind. I was Dax," She says easily. One of the wayward MOAs gets lifted upside down to refill their energy. "She was my charge. I don't remember much. But I tried to extract her. I was injured. And for my discardment of my honor, I was turned into this!" She spins again, and then unloads several shots in quick succession across the various MOAs. She's still laughing, but it sounds desperate, almost sad.

"It's hard to tell, because it's in parts and pieces. If you ask, I might have an easier time?" She uses a rail as a way to cover herself to reload.

"What do you mean you were Dax?" Talthen stopped dead in his tracks. Gears were turning in his mind that could not find purchase. "You... were turned... into this? What do you mean? I don't-"

His words were cut short as a beam of hardlight smashes into his cranium, the ordinance detonating mere moments after. The frame falls, tumbling back down the hallway for a meter or two. When it comes to a rest, there is no movement.

Alli reaches out towards him, Blessing already roiling forth as she looks up just in time to see the arc of the shot before it hits. She lets loose a scream, more akin to a staticy hiss. Half a second passes, and Zelu drops free of the spaces between space and hurls the scythe. It tears through an unfortunate MOA. She drags it free of the mechanical corpse with the sound of shredding metal, and Alli finishes the cast.

"Seriously? Did you fucking murder the new kid?" Zelu snaps, dropping into the void to avoid the incoming barrage of return fire. Alli just makes another static-crackle-fizz sound, rushing over towards the fallen frame.

"I cannot believe you," She continues. There's no heat in the words, she sounds almost sarcastic, as she arcs the blade down to cleave through another MOAs leg. "Always have to clean up your damn messes, Alli! What kind of," The rest of her rant is lost as she seems to cease existing again, only to reappear further down the hall, burying the gilded blades into another mecha-proxy.

When Alli makes it to the stationary body, she would see slight movements. Arms trying to find purchase on the floor. A chest that is trying to roll to its side. There is a strangled, static-y vocalization. It sounded like what might be considered a groan. Talthen could feel the somatic pod around him, the damage to Rhino shunting him far enough back through the transference link to do so.

He grumbled and pushed back into his frame. The feeling was akin to forcing himself to have a migraine by wearing a hood that was too tight. The Void rippled in a wave of spines around his frame's figure as he returns. The groan eventually became words. " _ Uuuuuuuugh _ . I'm fine. I'm fine. I was just caught off guard... twice over."

He unsteadily gets to his feet, the static in his brain harsh enough to make the whole of this body feel like pins and needles. "And don't worry. I clean up easy."

Alli shudders at the feeling, his own link issue arcs across her like static discharge. "Gross. Don't die," She adds, and then the gilded frame is back on her feet. She doesn't bother to help him up, knowing that'd probably not help him feel any better- plus if he fell, the weight would take them both down.

Zelu is busy ripping her scythe out of the last proxy corpse, having downed the last two proxies while Alli was checking him over. She hefts the weapon over her shoulder, a few punctured scraps still attached to the blade. "While you two were busy getting your shit kicked in, guess what I got," She practically sings the words. "Lets get the hell off this shitheap, I have schematics to fuck with."

"R... right. After you." The bulky frame took a stuttered step, testing it's balance. "I sure hope it was worth it." Talthen shakes his head through the transference link, a cratered crack visible in his helmet. Finding its systems and chassis still serviceable, he pilots the Rhino toward extraction. All the while, he keeps a close eyes on Zelu. Well, more of a frame-veiled glare.

Alli coats them in another layer of healing for good measure. "Your helminth can repair your frame fully, yes?" She tilts her head, light catching and refracting on the shining white carapace.

Zelu is clutching the datapad in both hands, practically vibrating with excitement. "Considering these might be what we need to beat back the infestation, and cleanse a ship fully, yes. These are worth anything." She says, tucking the datapad into her shirt.

"Yes. My Helminth should be able to patch this up. Thank you for your aid, Alli." He walks with a slow, measured pace towards the exit. He holds an arm out to run along the wall to support himself.

His voice reaches out to Zelu. "And what exactly are 'these'? What was this all about?" He did not mention anything about her statement of their blank check worth. Another reason to worry it seems.

She nods, continuing to float alongside him. Alli continues to keep her weapon out, hosing down any MOAs that come near the group. It's a short trip, thankfully, and seems like the proposed third vault would have been out of the way according to the overlay map.

"Old Orokin documentation on the creation of the common strain," She says, "Along with gene coding. And a variety of weapons that can be altered to hose the growths down and possibly clean them out," Zelu seems excited, "And more, but I didn't get to read much while it was copying. This could be it. This could get us a ship. This could get us closer to being able to slow down the infestation. This is amazing."

"Great. I'm glad. I have no idea what you are on about. But you seem happy about it." She really did seem excited, almost childlike in her glee. He watched her curiously. Someone so brusque minutes ago was bouncing up and down in excitement. He was unconsciously entranced, unaware that they had crested a corner to an intersection. A flash of motion behind her catches his eye. Infested blood runs cold, a moment too late. His hand blurs to his side grasping his sidearm. The Lex levels in Zelu's direction. A single word roars out at the blind Tenno.

"Drop!"

"We can deal with the infested," She says, turning around to walk backwards as she continues. Midway through her next sentence is his command, and she crouches without hesitation- fading into the void as she makes the move. Alli turns, having been checking behind them. And fires empty. She ducks behind the massive frame to reload.

Six percussive rounds fire off into a quadrupedal form that lunges at where Zelu was moments before. The Corpus must have been far more aggravated by Zelu's intrusions in their network, and the frames intrusion in their, well, everything. The muddy-green hyena slams into the floor, joints rolling low and recovering from its sudden stop. Where it expected soft flesh, it found none, and turned to search for its prey.

The Tenno reappears halfway to Alli, and where normally someone would simply slam into the frame, she seems to phase into it. The frame snarls loudly, "Let's just run!" And then starts in on her new plan.

"That sounds like a good plan to me." He turned on his heel and started a sprint. The Rhino was hot on the Trinity's tail, and the Hyena was hot on his.

Leaps and twirls rocket her forward towards the marked extraction point. She doesn't stop, at one point using a confused Corpus as a stepping stone, foot crushing a pointed dent into his helmet as she shoves off and further ahead.

Alarms are blaring as the two race for extraction. Alli, or Zelu, fires on a nearby vent skating through into another room. The landing area has the usual lock points for a ship to connect to. But only one. "Hey, you wanted info right? Hope you don't mind that on whichever Cephalon's called dibs!" She calls. "You're bigger, I'll stick to you," She tacks on as the near the end of the rather long room.

Talthen chases behind Zelu. Or is it Alli? He cannot tell at this moment. The Trinity's silhouette against the threshold to the docking ship beyond was a sight to behold.

"Then hold on!" He charged forward, through the Trinity, pinning her, them?, to their extraction. His arms fan out to catch the hand slots in the frame sized recess. His feet lock into the footholds. It is as if his body cages the Trinity to the ship that awaits them. And when they are pulled into an orbiter, it is one he does not recognize the interior of. His breathing comes in pants over the slimmer frame. "Hah. Hah. Looks like your Cephalon called dibs."

The frame wedged between him and the ship is giggling. There's a staticy sound, and then more giggling. In short order, however, they're both spun and then deposited into the navigation chamber of the ship. A string of binary from a Cephalon pulsing in alternates of blue and gold is heard over the speakers of the ship at a relatively ignorable volume. The Trinity, wiggles and extracts herself, still giggling, before dropping her various weapons on the floor. This visibly agitates the Cephalon, and the color shift rapidly fluctuates though the volume doesn't change.

The ship clonks loudly as the lander connects properly to the rest of the orbiter, and Alli translates for the Cephalon. "Your ship has been messaged, and is aware you're on board. They're in communication via the weave."

The lander itself is clean, as is what's visible down the ramp. The whole ship is white and gold throughout. Filigree decorates the rather ornate lander, along with the orbiter space below. It looks actually more like an Orokin ship than a Tenno one- all of the text across the variety of terminals is in Orokin as well, rather than the more oft used common, or even the Grineer or Corpus languages. A single domestik drone, all white, rumbles around the orbiter, and a single kavat is reclined in a rather luxurious bed near to the base of the ramp. Alli floats downward, "If you'd like, we could deposit your frame with our Helminth and you could exist here if that would be more comfortable. Or drop you off to your ship proper, and you can call upon your debt at a time better for you?" It's an honest concern, and her worry for the frame, even a non sentient one, is clear as day. 

Talthen looks about the orbiter. The pristine white and gold craft made him feel out of place in his cracked purple-black skin. The Orokin words increased this feeling if alienation from the moment. He was silently glad it was Zelu's orbiter and not his that they had arrived in. He doubted she would approve of the state of his orbiter if this was her daily life style.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the mention of his ship. He looked to the oscillating hue of the Cephalon, wondering how anyone could understand it. "Thank you. As for my frame, it should be able to last for the length of a conversation. I don't plan on running another mission any time soon."

Alli nods shortly. She gestures for him to follow, "It's your choice. Zelu is down here," She gestures at the personal quarters, which the Cephalon opens the door to. Said Tenno is still covered in blood and coolant, but is sprawled out on a mat in some manner of stretch. She's ditched the detached sleeves and boots, and is now just in the loose top and baggy pants- the void scarring that dominates her arms and hands is now clearly visible. Along with what of her legs and feet and visible. Alli makes some comment about her form, to which the response is a displeased grunt and a moderate attempt to fix it.

The room is... trashed isn't quite right. The bed has been replaced by a veritable mountain of floofs, which have spilled over onto the couch. A massive fishtank dominates one wall, and the habitat is full of Orokin synthfish lazily swimming around. Ayatans, filled and starless, sit in varying levels of motion across a variety of flat surfaces. Dismantled weapons and research cover every other surface available. Various knives are embedded in the wall opposite the tank. There's a few posters taped up over the glass above the floofpile, including what looks to be a few pastel drawings of Zelu and Alli.

Talthen shuffled into the room, attempting to not knock into any of the clutter and failing terribly. An ayatan statue toppled as he tried to edge by. He cursed and bent to pick it up and return it upright to its place. He looked around for a place to seat himself, and when he could not find a clear enough space, he simply stood with his hands clasped behind his back, fingers rolling taps on his wrist. A nervous habit he needed to break.

He broke something else instead; the silence. "You have a lovely Orbiter." And it was. Much better kept than the one he had. And a compliment was never a bad way to start a conversation. Right?

Alli shoves a small army of floofs from the couch and pats the now empty spacious seat- and then drops with a whumpf into the pile of them. Zelu just makes a vaguely noncommittal noise, and then gives up on the stretch she's attempting. "Yeah? I dunno. I was lucky and got to keep my original ship, I guess." She flops onto her back, 'staring' up at the ceiling. "So. The basics- Prime frames were people hit with a particular strain of infestation to turn them into warframes. Some volunteered, Dax mostly, and others were... punished with it." Alli wiggles her fingers as if to say 'That's me'

"What exactly do you want to know?" Zelu sounds... tired? She sits up and goes about performing more stretches, focused on her arms now.

The Rhino gingerly sits down on the now clean couch, giving Alli a thankful nod as he did so.

"I... I'm interested in how these... Prime frames? That's what you call them?... how they differ from the current strain. Is it because they were infested from a host that they withhold the ability to think and act of their own accord? Has this behavior ever been witnessed in a frame synthetically formed from infested tissue? Is there a way to tell a 'prime' apart while the frame is in stasis? And maybe the question that I want most answered in this moment, what what the process by which this transformation took place?"

Zelu nods thoughtfully, ticking off his questions on her fingers as she answers them. "Some call them that. Others just say Orokin, as the non primes, or the Tenno made, are just copies." She shrugs, stretching her left arm across her chest and holding it there, her breathing is slow and even as she goes through the motions. "They strain isn't different between the variants, as far as I can tell. Kayden let me take a look at his Garuda for some comparisons, uh."

She frowns. Alli pauses, "Twelve." And Zelu nods, continuing to hold her position for three more seconds before swapping arms.

"Right, so. Yes and no, uh. Basically, if they were a person first, they'll retain some of that self. How much is.. it depends. Alli and I have been linked since the Old War. She's the only frame that survived me," The words are bitter, and coupled will a rough staticy sound from Alli. "I- Anyways. Some Tenni made frames have... Personality. But the Helminth grows the flesh according ro schematica. That flesh can retain an imprint of something from the helminth, or even from the Operator using it, if used often enough. The somatic link is sympathetic, it works both ways." She pauses, sitting up and stretching her legs out before touching her toes, sinking forward enough that her chest is flat to the ground with either leg also flat. "Generally Orokin made frames are more... Fancy? Ornate?" She grunts, "Something like that."

Zelu huffs, pausing her exposition to mumble, counting out the last few seconds to fifteen, before flumping backwards to 'stare' at the ceiling again. "More specific. Alli's? Frames in general? Being sentient? What transformation?" She sounds confused.

The Cephalon's volume increases suddenly, spitting out a string of binary that Zelu grins at. "Thanks Thæ, make backups and compile possible targets, density based first, then circle to most likely secondaries." The trill of binary recedes to background noise again.

"For Alli, it would be the transformation from Dax to Trinity that I am curious of. What was the process? You claimed it was a punishment. Was it a painful change?"

The questions were shallow. That's most likely because he didn't have any substantial questions to actually ask. Rather, he had a burning curiosity that needed fuel. The main question was answered. How were Primes different? They were people first. There it was. As simple as that. Answered. But there had to be more. There had to be something else to find out.

Alli laughs. It's a visceral, wounded sound. "Excruciating. No words can explain the pain it was. It was painful afterwards too, until I was united with my charge, my Tenno." She sighs, and squishes one of the floofs in her arms.

Zelu grunts again. She's now laying on her back, one leg straight down, knee of the other pulled as far up as she can manage while keeping the limb straight. "There are frames without a link. Tenno that died in the Dream, before waking, and now their frames are out there, pained and alone and broken." She sounds bitter, but as if she's trying to remain separate from the thought. "But they're rare, violent, and in broken agony."

"And what is the best way of handling a feral prime should one come across one by happenstance? Would it be best to dispatch them?"

He looks them over. He heard the sound Alli had made, and he winced internally. The bitterness in Zelu's voice also warns him that he may be touching on possibly sensitive ground. Immediately, he tries to lessen any negative impact his words may have.

"I hope you know I am not meaning to be rude or cause harm with my questions. I only ask out of pure curiosity."

Zelu grunts again, switching her position to mirror it, stretching her other leg. "No. The best option is to get out of your frame and attempt transference." Alli nods, smooshing the floof further. Poor thing looks like its stitching is frayed and ready to pop from her ministrations. "A person is hurt, wounded and vulnerable, unaware of themself. Your reaction shouldn't be to cull. It should be to mend."

Zelu's sentence is short. Clipped.

Alli cuts in before the bitterness can build up too much bite. "Everyone starts somewhere. But know that pain. Their only memory in that time is suffering tenfold, and the feeling of their operator's death. The invincible, the indomitable, the Void manifest, ripped from them, along with their control and their peace. All of it. Suddenly gone." She shudders. "It's sickening to even imagine."

"I wouldn't know what to do if the Void was suddenly gone from me. It's..." He pauses, the frame creaks where it rests. What was he without the void? A child? A soldier? He had asked himself this question before, but shrugged it off as an impossibility. But now he had to think of it as if the void were gone, as well as a part of himself. That was too much. "I see your point. It really is a sad thought. And what happens after transference? What is it like with two minds in one form? Does one have more control for actions? Or voice? Is it a struggle to define yourselves, or is the contrast stark?"

Zelu sighs this time. She sits up, stands, and moves over towards the tank. "It's... it depends. On the connection. Their strength, their sense of self, yours. Alli was Dax, she's the-'' Zelu sighs, pressing one hand against the glass. "She's alloy and rubedo and knives. There's no tangle. Hira, she was strong. She had been married before they turned her into a frame. I still Dream about him, the one she was married to? Like ghosts in the void..."

The Tenno shudders. "Shegin, she was... quiet. Serene. She never said much, was content to just let the pain bleed out." She rubs at her blindfold. "Obyr. Hah. He sank in and out of existing, the only thing he cared about was that I made sure to not use clashing colors for his carapace. I'd use the most garish shit to make sure he didn't fade completely out on me. It was lonely otherwise." Alli has sat up, and is clearly rather intently watching her Operator. "Kali. He was.. He was a dick, honestly. I let him handle the missions, he didn't want to give up control, and I didn't care. He handled it all just fine." She shrugs. "Shalreah. She just wanted to. To do things? She was talkative, but not... Not strong enough to do more than that. She had children. Aluk and Tyu. I found out from records later.. I, she, there was a mission. We killed them. She... She begged to stay, and so the next mission I did, I made to fumble. Didn't extract in time. She got caught in the blast. Dead. She thanked me before the signal broke."

Zelu rests her forehead against the glas. "I. There has been a lot. All of them are different. Unique. It depends on the person, who they're linked to. A lot of factors, too much data, too many things to measure." She clears her throat, still not looking away from the fish.

Talthen stayed quiet. He wouldn't know what to say if he did, too scared to say the wrong thing. Zelu had lost so many companions... and he had lost frames too. In the Old War, he would discard frames the moment they were no longer functional. The thought that each of those were people. The things he had them do. The things he had done to them. He wanted to vomit. His stomach seemed to coil and twirl. What had he done? He thought they were _ tools _ . He used them as tools. Then to see one who would care for them, remember them, regret their passing. He felt monstrous sitting so peacefully on that cluttered couch.

"I'm sorry." He wasn't sure who he was saying that to.

Alli breaks the ensuing silence before it draws out too long. "Everyone starts somewhere. You did not know," She seems to have guessed where his thoughts had gone. "The Orokin did not even want the Operators to know. But you know now. And you know why it such a carefully guarded secret."

Zelu nods sharply. "One that none of us dare to let others know. I already scrubbed your searches from the various places that logged them. Do. " She takes a deep breath. "Do you-"

The Cephalon interrupts, and her hand balls into a fist which she slams against the reinforced glass. The fish don't seem to notice. The binary stream dies down again, "Alli can you see- Thank you." The frame is already up and out the door. "Do you have any other questions, Tally?"

"None that cannot wait. You have already answered more questions that I feel as I have earned by my efforts today. Thank you. I do not know what you have gone through, but I see my inquiry is a prying one. You have been kind and patient with me. I appreciate that. "

He stands only to lower his cratered helmet in a deep bow. He hopes to convey respect and gratitude in this action, even if she cannot see it. He rights himself. The Rhino dwarfing the Tenno at the tank. His words are stoic, final and firm in conviction. "I will cease my inquiry unless it is by word of mouth. I will speak of this to none other than those you and Sin'drion have connected me to, unless otherwise advised. I will keep this secret as you have."

"Good. Dream well, may the Void keep you safe and whole." She says nothing else, continuing to 'stare' at the tank.

Alli returns quickly, "Your ship is here. You're clear to head over. Don't beat yourself up over it. It will not change the past, and only harm your future." It seems almost like she's speaking to both of them. "If we find anything interesting in the schematica, I'll be sure copies get to you as well," She adds before leading him towards the access point between the living quarters and the helminth chamber. "You know how to get in contact with us. Don't be a stranger."

_ Hold on. _

"And you have the means to contact me as well. If you need help on another mission, I would be more than happy to help. Just. Not another infiltration mission. Please."

_ Hold it. _

He gave Alli a deep bow as well, before stepping into the transfer point between their crafts. When he was safely inside his Orbiter, the Rhino was shunted. The operator careened back from his damaged puppet. His chest was heaving as he stared at the blast scarring. His eyes lingered at the cratered cerebrum. Talthen's hands tore at the clasps of the hood of his transference suit. He needed air. But when the stagnant, sterilized air was finally unimpeded, he did not breath in. Instead bile poured out of his mouth in wretched heaves. He collapsed against one of the consoles, exhausted and sick. He paid no attention to the Cephalon admonishing him for making a mess. He simply kept a gaze on his frame, before retching again.  _ What have I done? _

It's only after Thætyn closes the door behind Talthen that her shoulders fall. The rigidity of her posture cracks, and Zelu sinks slowly to the floor.

That's where Alli finds her, a few minutes later. Wedged against the tank wall, shaking with sobs. She can't cry, the acid burns she'd sustained before the Zariman Ten Zero had melted the upper half of her face. She still tries though, curled up like a child in Trinity's arms, and sobbing like a broken thing.

  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
